Nutrition is one of the cornerstones of health, well-being, and the prevention of numerous chromic diseases. Nutritional products play an important role in these areas and attempts to provide readily available and convenient nutritional products to the general public has been a major focus in recent years. To remain healthy one must receive essential nutrients which are indispensable to human nutrition. Essential nutrients include both macronutrients, such as fats, carbohydrates and proteins, and micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals (including trace elements and electrolytes). Table 1 shows a list of essential macronutrients and micronutrients and corresponding percent daily value (D.V.) of these essential nutrients based on a 2,000 calorie diet as currently specified by governmental regulations, 21 C.F.R. 101.9, 1998. Electrolytes include sodium, potassium and chloride.
Nutritionally compete and balanced foods are important for ensuring that the public receives all essential nutrients. The public should not be encouraged to receive incomplete or imbalanced nutrition with food or liquids that are perceived or marketed to have nutritional benefits. Consumption of nutritionally incomplete foods or liquids that do not contain all the essential nutrients as listed in Table 1 will not necessarily provide complete nutritional well-being. Furthermore, a nutritionally imbalanced product can result in over consumption or under consumption of essential nutrients because some nutrients are presented in very high concentrations while other nutrients are presented in very low concentrations. A balance of essential nutrients, especially micronutrients, is often recommended for optimal nutritional well-being.
As an example of complete and balanced nutrition, consider the need and interaction of just three micronutrients, such as, vitamin D, calcium and phosphorus. Vitamin D is necessary for the absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the same intestine of humans which is important in normal growth and mineralization of skeleton and teeth. A deficiency in vitamin D can lead to rickets in young children and to osteomalacia in adults. Excessive consumption of vitamin D, however, can cause hypercalcemia with anorexia, nausea, polyuria, polydipsia, anxiety, pruritus and altered renal function. Furthermore, a balance of calcium and phosphorus is needed for healthy bones and teeth. A diet deficient in one of these micronutrients can directly effect the body's ability to utilize the other two micronutrients. An imbalance of micronutrients, such as excessive calcium and deficient phosphorus, and also cause health problems because a balance of these minerals is required for healthy bones and teeth. Thus, the balancing of essential nutrients in desirably quantities is necessary for health and well-being.
Milk products constitute a significant portion of the overall diet or caloric consumption of human beings. As such, milk products have a major role in maintaining the health of the public. Nutritionally optimal milk products will have a positive effect on the nutrition and the health of the public. Concentration of macronutrients in any given milk product will often depend on the nature of the product and the desirable profile developed by the manufacturer. For example, levels of macronutrients can be manipulated in products such as fat free milk, protein fortified chocolate milk and artificially sweetened ice cream.
Nutrition facts of commercially available flavored milks, including organic milk and soy milk, are presented in Tables 2A and 2B. The total fat contents vary with the product profile. For example, a fat free milk will have less total fat than a 1% milk fat product, and both of these products will have lower total fat levels than a full milk fat product. Most of the milk products in Tables 2A and 2B, however, are deficient in a significant number of micronutrients. Many of these micronutrient-deficient milk products contain only sodium, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and possibly iron as micronutrients. These micronutrient-deficient milk products are not considered complete nutritional products and may not offer the full health benefits associated with complete nutritional products.
Some commercially available milk products, as presented in Table 2B, are, however, fortified with many of the essential micronutrients. These fortified products generally have 35 to 50 percent of the daily value of many micronutrients present in a single serving. Nevertheless, even these fortified products are not complete nutritional products because some essential micronutrients are lacking from the product or are only present in insignificant or trace amounts. For example, essential micronutrients of vitamin K, folate, selenium, manganese, chromium, molybdenum and chloride are missing from these fortified milk products, resulting in an incomplete nutritional product. Furthermore, consumption of just several servings per day of these over-fortified products can lead to levels of micronutrients exceeding the recommended daily value for those fortified micronutrients. Such over consumption of a nutritionally incomplete, but somewhat nutritionally fortified product, may not result in desirable nutrition levels in the consuming public.
As with commercially available flavored milks, commercially available ice creams and frozen yogurts (see Table 3A and 3B) and commercially available yogurts (see Tables 4A and 4B) typically have incomplete and imbalanced micronutrient profiles. These ice creams and yogurts do not offer the nutritional benefits of a nutritionally complete and balanced product.
There is a need for nutritionally complete and nutritionally balanced milk products for consumption by the public without concern of over consumption of essential micronutrients especially those that are not naturally present in milk. The present invention meets these and other needs, as will come apparent in the description provided below.